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Ontario councilwoman reminds public to prepare

When Councilwoman Debra Dorst-Porada isn’t sitting behind the dais making key decisions for the city, she is working as a registered nurse.

Recently, the latter has kept her busy focusing on efforts to get the public prepared for a natural or major disaster.

“I was really, really amazed by the apathy out there,” she said.

Oftentimes, people think they can either call 9-1-1 or the government will be there to take care of them when a major disaster strikes, she said. That’s just not the case, adding the population is too big for the government to take care of everyone.

“In the city we have 165,000. There’s just not enough resources and water for us to feed 165,000 people. I can’t express just enough how much you need to have 10 days of food and water at your home no matter how big of a catastrophe,” she said.

For example, in the case of hurricanes Sandy and Katrina or the earthquake in Japan, it took the government time to setup a response tactic. Dorst-Porada said government agencies needs at least two weeks to get organized to put together the resources to help people.

Dorst-Porada said she recently attended an event with Caltech quakes expert Lucy Jones who told those in attendance that after a major disaster it could be four to five months just to rebuild the water infrastructure in the region.

“Don’t be apathic now, that earthquake is going to happen any day now,” she said.